Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To wear (something) away by erosion.
- intransitive verb To eat into; corrode.
- intransitive verb To make or form by wearing away.
- intransitive verb To cause to diminish or deteriorate.
- intransitive verb To become worn or eaten away.
- intransitive verb To diminish or deteriorate.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To gnaw or eat into or away; corrode.
- Hence To wear away, as if by gnawing: specifically used in geology of the action of water, etc., in wearing down the earth's surface.
- To become worn away.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To eat into or away; to corrode.
- transitive verb To wear away.
- transitive verb To produce by erosion, or wearing away.
- transitive verb fig. to reduce or lessen as if by eroding.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb To
wear away byabrasion ,corrosion orchemical reaction
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb remove soil or rock
- verb become ground down or deteriorate
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word erode.
Examples
-
Meanwhile Americans will be discouraged from doing the right things to mitigate the impact of higher gas prices and the nationwide system of roads will further erode from a failure to properly fund upkeep from the fuel tax.
-
It got to the point where the aluminum coating started to erode from the bracelet and I had to apply medical tape to the inside to prevent my wrist from becoming green.
Letters and Notes 1966
-
For that dynamic to erode is to mean Iraq has a chance at being a functional, healthy, successful state.
-
Toyota, the world's largest automaker, has lost almost $34 billion in market value in the past two weeks and yesterday had its "AA" debt rating put under review by Standard & Poor's as the recalls erode its brand image.
BusinessWeek.com -- 2010
-
Toyota, the world's largest automaker, has lost almost $34 billion in market value in the past two weeks and today had its "AA" debt rating put under review by Standard & Poor's as the recalls erode its brand image.
BusinessWeek.com -- 2010
-
Toyota, the world's largest automaker, has lost almost $34 billion in market value in the past two weeks and yesterday had its "AA" debt rating put under review by Standard & Poor's as the recalls erode its brand image.
BusinessWeek.com -- 2010
-
Toyota, the world's largest automaker, has lost almost $34 billion in market value in the past two weeks and yesterday had its "AA" debt rating put under review by Standard & Poor's as the recalls erode its brand image.
BusinessWeek.com -- 2010
-
Toyota, the world's largest automaker, has lost almost $34 billion in market value in the past two weeks and yesterday had its "AA" debt rating put under review by Standard & Poor's as the recalls erode its brand image.
BusinessWeek.com -- 2010
-
Toyota, the world's largest automaker, has lost almost $34 billion in market value in the past two weeks and today had its "AA" debt rating put under review by Standard & Poor's as the recalls erode its brand image.
BusinessWeek.com -- 2010
-
Toyota, the world's largest automaker, has lost almost $34 billion in market value in the past two weeks and today had its "AA" debt rating put under review by Standard & Poor's as the recalls erode its brand image.
BusinessWeek.com -- 2010
oroboros commented on the word erode
The route your Instant Messaging takes in cyberspace?
From "Wiley's Dictionary" (B.C. comic strip)
July 26, 2008